Photorealism can take up to 300 hours to produce but in the end a painting quickly executed in less then 10 hours could potentially have a bigger impact on the viewer." That's the view of painter Brian Rice, expressing his thoughts on the Painting Forum. Brian says: "I don't believe anymore that having a painting that looks like a photo is a measure of great art but more a measure of great craftsmanship; it is, however, a great demonstration of technical skill. Great art should go beyond what a photo can do. We live in a digital age and we are saturated with visual images. Paintings should do what a camera cannot do. ...In my painting I want realism with an Impressionistic influence, I want realism that is not photorealism. However I am a realist at heart, so I may never abstract too far.

Photorealism is a movement which began in the late 1960's, in which scenes are painted in a style closely resembling photographs. The subject matter is frequently banal and without particular interest; the true subject of a photorealist work is the way in which we interpret photographs and paintings in order to create an internal representation of the scene depicted.

technique

The artists do not draw from the object itself but rather use Photographs. And also photgraphical methods such as wide angel shoots.
They project the pictures onto canvas using DIA or they copy it with a printing screen.
Afterwords they fulfil the work with mainly acryl or emulsion paint.

Artists that played a important role for the photorealism movement all over the world

USA:
Charles Bell (* 19435), Tom Blackwell (* 1938), Ralph Goings(* 1928), Richard Estes(* 1932), Chuck Close(* 1940), Robert Cottingham (* 1935), Don Eddy(* 1944), John Salt(* 1937 Engl., Ben Schonzeit(* 1942), Richard McLean (* 1934), John Kacere (* 1920), David Parrish(* 1939), Ron Kleemann (* 1937), Anthony Brunelli (* 1968), - Philip Pearlstein (1924), , John Clem Clarke, Alex Colville (* 1920)

Schweiz:
Franz Gertsch (*1930)

England:
Malcom Morley

Germany:
Gerhart Richter (*1932)




'Alles ist, wie es ist- und ist als zusammengesetzte Oberfläche doch neu und anders, als es erscheint' H. Kanovitz


Stephanie Forkel project for lecture perception and cognition held by Prof. J Kennedy at the University of Salzburg